Thomas Dang

The province announced the new high school will have space for 1800 students and was in response to the dramatic growth in that part of the city.

Thomas Kyle Dang (born April 7, 1995) is a Canadian former politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Edmonton-South West.

Dang is the youngest MLA to ever be elected in Alberta.

He later sat as an independent MLA.

Dang was a member of the first Alberta NDP Government Caucus in the province's history.

During his first term, Dang advocated heavily for the new South-West high school and hospital, both of which were announced during his tenure.

He also put forward motions related to education and most notably, changes to daylight saving time in Alberta.

As of 2014–2015, he is a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity at the University of Alberta.

In his second term, Dang is part of the Alberta NDP Official Opposition.

He serves as the Official Opposition Infrastructure Critic and Democracy and Ethics Critic.

In February 2021, he was appointed Official Opposition Deputy House Leader.

During his time in opposition, he has been a vocal critic against misuse of funds, including bringing forward motions to investigate spending scandals and errors of Government MLAs.

Dang opposed a motion that granted UCP MLA Joseph Schow a $12000 raise in October 2021.

He called the move to increase a politicians pay "absurd" and "hypocritical" while the Government is asking front-line and public sector workers for a wage rollback.

In November 2021, Dang sent a letter to Elections Alberta requesting an independent review of the use of third-party money to purchase tickets to the United Conservative Party annual general meeting.

He defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Matt Jeneroux in the May 5, 2015 election that saw the Alberta NDP sweep the city of Edmonton and win a majority government, the first switch of governing parties in the province since the 1971 election.

In May 2017, the Alberta Government announced a new hospital in southwest Edmonton.

The location was chosen in part due to its proximity to both Anthony Henday Drive and the Queen Elizabeth Highway 2 (Alberta).

The location is also near a proposed future LRT expansion.

This decision was in part due to advocacy by Dang and he was on hand for the announcement.

Dang has been critical of the UCP Government for not fully funding the proposed Red Deer Hospital.

In November 2017, Premier Rachel Notley and Education Minister David Eggen announced with Dang a new high school for the southwest region of Edmonton.

In April 2019, Thomas Dang was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the new electoral district of Edmonton-South, defeating the United Conservative Party candidate Tunde Obasan by a narrow margin.

On December 21, 2021, Dang resigned from the NDP caucus after an RCMP search of his home.

The search was later linked to a hack on the Alberta government vaccine information website, which, according to Dang, he conducted to highlight security flaws in the site.

The Alberta Government eventually introduced a public vulnerability disclosure program for cybersecurity.

Ultimately, Dang pled guilty and was fined $7,200 in November 2022.

Dang was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

He is the second child of ethnic Chinese parents, who were refugees from Vietnam.

Before entering politics, Dang was pursuing a degree in Computing Science at the University of Alberta.

In 2022, he completed a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance from Western Governors University.

He has also completed a University Certificate in Computing and Information Systems from Athabasca University.

Dang has previously worked as a software consultant and software developer.

Dang entered politics as a candidate for the New Democratic Party of Alberta.

He served as a member of the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the Special Standing Committee on Members' Services and the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship.

He also previously served as a member of the Standing Committee on Private Bills.

Dang is seen as a rising star among his caucus; education minister David Eggen called Dang a strong pick as a future education minister due to his leadership and as a role model for young people.

In December 2020, Dang was named as Alberta's Best Representative of Constituents by his legislature colleagues.

Dang was a computer science student at the University of Alberta.

He also wrote a blog on provincial politics.